Lemon Drop?
by liquid-time
Summary: Three days before Pansy becomes a full fledged Death Eater. How is she coping? And how are the people around her reacting? Draco/Pansy aspects.
1. A Pansy for My Rose

**Lemon Drop?**  
Chapter 1  
A Pansy for My Rose**  
**~liquid-time

Thank you **bananas in pyjamas **for beta-ing this chapter.

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"I got these for you."

Draco dropped a basketful of dug-up pansies next to me. Some were purple and some an aqua blue, but all of their mustached faces matched Draco's smirk as he sat down, glancing at me. I hadn't turned to him, looked at the flowers or acknowledged his presence. It was a chilly night by the lake. The vast expanse of liquid was stagnant, not even a ripple on its surface. I was watching the sunset which had turned the water pink.

Innocence. That's what this scene looked like. A boy wooing a girl with flowers next to a lake as pretty as the petals of the roses that bloomed in the summertime. My heart was pounding, my stomach filled with butterflies, but it wasn't because of the cutie next to me. It was because of the information that he brought with him. It brought chills to my spine and ran goose bumps over my arm that had nothing to do with the gentle wind dancing on my skin.

And I didn't even know what it was yet.

Before I could stop myself I started to silently cry, tears flooded down my face like a broken dam and I didn't bother to wipe them away. "This house is a trap." My voice broke and I gave a small gasp for air. "You don't have a choice, you either join up with him, or you die, you get killed."

"Pansy," Draco spoke softly, a look of bewilderment on his face, "why wouldn't you want to join the Dark Lord's ranks?"

I sniffled. "I just- I mean, oh Draco," I look at his pale face and grey eyes. He was so nice, sweet, and I probably didn't deserve him as a friend, "I'm scared of him."

Anyone else would have left me there, called me a traitor, stopped caring and would have spread rumors. Not Draco. He looked at me and chuckled, pulling me in to a warm hug. I sat there feeling safe in his arms.

He stroked my hair, thin fingers working their way through the black ocean of waves. "Who isn't scared of him?" he posed. I looked at him. With my look I inquired more, I needed justification for my feelings, to know I wasn't awful, that I wasn't a traitor for wanting to run away and never turn back.

"The meetings are tense," he explained, "everyone tries to please him and everyone is scared, with the possible exception of Bellatrix." I chuckled at the attempt of a joke. No, I thought to myself, she doesn't seem like she would be, "scared that they'll slip up and piss him off, have his rage focused on them, and the torture. Most likely you'll come out of there alive in some state. You can't hurt someone when they're dead, but everyone knows that there's a chance of no return," he paused, taking a moment to gaze at the view, "I think that's what makes it alright though, everyone knows the risk."

"Yeah but we can't do anything about it. What good is knowing the risk without accepting it?"

This statement made Draco laugh a deep, full-bellied laugh. He beamed down at me.

"C'mon Pansy, are you serious?" he shook his head and smiled a sideways glance down at me, "you're one of the smartest people I know. You stand up for what is right and what you believe in."

He shifted on to his knees, so that he was facing me. Our fingers entwined and our eyes connected. There was a flame in his, a spark, the ignition of life.

"You have to join, you'll love it, and they'll love you…he'll love you. Joining the Death Eaters is the life you want. Could you really stand living in a world of mudbloods and doing nothing to stop the spread of their disease?"

I couldn't help but smile at him. "No of course not," I relaxed a bit, "I'm just nervous I guess," I look up at him and wince slightly, "when's my induction?"

"Three days from now, Friday. They'll pick us up over there," he pointed towards the trees, "near the Forbidden Forest," he rubbed my shoulder, encouraging me, "you'll do fine."

"I hope so…" partially because I wanted to survive, but mostly because I wanted to fight.

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**AUTHORS NOTE: **This story does and will have elements of a Draco/Pansy romance, but I haven't decided how major I want that part to be, so if you feel strongly one way or another, just say so in your review!

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**The End  
(of the chapter)**


	2. I Would Advise You Not To

**Lemon Drop?  
**Chapter 2  
I Would Advise You Not To  
~liquid-time

Thank you **bananas in pyjamas** for beta-ing this chapter.  
A special thanks to **YouGottaSingAlong **and **OutCold **for last minute help with a beta mix-up.

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Dumbledore was looking at me over his pair of half-moon glasses. He sighed and gestured to a bowl of yellow candies perched on his desk.

"Lemon Drop?" he asked.

"What?"

"They're a type of muggle candy. I've become quite fond of them."

Doing nothing to hide my disgust, I sneered. "No thank you."

It wasn't just the muggle sweets that made me cringe. His whole office screamed unprofessional and mad. There were always rumors about how Dumbledore was off his rocker, but this confirmed it. Various instruments and artifacts were strewn on the walls, emitting whizzes and the occasional puff of smoke. It looked like a child's room, certainly not befitting of a headmaster as great as he supposedly was.

"Pansy, I've heard some rather disturbing news," as he said this I rolled my eyes and sunk lower into the plush armchair. I could tell that this was not going to be a fun conversation and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. There was a mini-party going on in the Slytherin common room celebrating our Quidditch match win. He continued, "a source has told me that you're considering joining the Death Eaters."

I shot him a look of revolt, trying to hide my surprise at his knowledge. I was about to protest when he held up his hand.

"I have no doubt that they're incorrect," he told me, but I would have bet my life that Dumbledore trusted and believed whoever had snitched to him. "None the less, it's an accusation that needs to be addressed."

"Really sir, does it?" I spat at him, "because unless you have someone who's actually in The Dark Lord's ranks, I don't understand how you're reliably getting this information," which was the truth. I had no idea how he knew this, and it frightened me a bit. My temper was rising, "and I really don't understand why this needs to be addressed if you're 'so sure' that I'm not going to join, which I wouldn't," which was a lie, "so Dumbledore, sir, who's been telling you this?"

I hadn't realized I'd been shouting, but I was angry. Even more than I was angry I was curious because no one aside from the Death Eaters was supposed to know anything about my induction. I mentally ran through the people in Slytherin whose parents had connections to The Dark Lord but as the faces of my friends swam through my mind, I found myself unable to convict any of them. None seemed the least likely to fink to Dumbledore.

But he just gazed solemnly down and removed his glasses, using a white handkerchief that had been on the desk to wipe them clean. He placed them back on his face and looked at me again before saying, "a very unreliable source, obviously," but I didn't believe that he meant that.

I glanced off to the side, considering whether to press the matter or not. I decided against it, because if I showed too much interest in whom the culprit had been it would look suspicious. Not meeting Dumbledore's eyes I asked, "if that's all, may I go now sir?"

"Of course."

I turned to leave, but before I could take a step, he spoke again.

"Just bear this in mind on the off chance that…" he trailed of before picking back up again, "the life of a Death Eater is neither as glamorous nor rewarding as I'm sure it has been made out to be. It's dangerous and simply wrong. What you're signing up for by joining them is a lifetime of terror that cannot be reversed."

I continued to the door without turning around, and still staring ahead I spoke, "be assured headmaster, that if I were to join the Death Eaters, the decision would not be taken lightly, and I would have made sure to take in to account the risks," I smiled even though I knew he couldn't see my face, "and I would completely stand by my choice," I paused before adding, "theoretically speaking of course," and slammed the door behind me.

On the other side, Dumbledore had placed his face in his hands and shut his eyes. The message Pansy had left him with was loud and clear.

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**AUTHORS NOTE: **Sorry this took awhile, there was some delays with both me and my beta. If you're ever curious about in-progress stories, I keep status reports on them on my profile. The next chapter should come soon enough, it's already been sent off to my beta.

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**The End**  
**(of the chapter) **


	3. Something To Tell Snape

**Lemon Drop?  
**Chapter 3  
Something To Tell Snape  
~liquid-time

Thank you **bananas in pyjamas **for beta-ing this chapter

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"Professor Snape?" I asked, knocking on his office door.

Draco was beside me. I had told him about my talk with Dumbledore, and he had insisted that we see Snape first thing next morning. As the only Death Eater inside Hogwarts (besides Draco), he figured that Snape was the best person to tell about someone slipping information to Dumbledore. The sooner Voldemort knew that there was a rat in his ranks, the better.

Snape opened the door while my fist was still raised mid-knock. Cold eyes swept over the pair of us, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

"And to what do I owe this pleasure so early in the morning?"

My cheeks turned slightly pink and I mumbled, "It's not _that_ early," but Draco had spoken up, asking if we were allowed into the office, because we had private things to discuss.

"Of course," was the reply, and Snape stood back, holding the door open for us.

He closed the door and locked it before sweeping to the other side of his mahogany desk and sitting down. I took this time to examine the contents of his office. Although familiar with the layout - I had been there fair amounts before - the jars of ingredients and the bottles of potions which lined the shelved walls were always changing. There was a particularly nice looking potion that was corked, sitting on a very high shelf and I had to stop myself from asking about it.

"Professor," Draco started with a sidelong glance at me, "Pansy had a discussion with Dumbledore last night and we thought we ought to tell you about it because…" he trailed off allowing me to pick up.

"Professor he knows about what's going to happen on Friday. He said that someone told him that there was a plan for me to join the Death Eaters and he wanted to talk with me about it."

I didn't know it was possible for someone to look so surprised, but the look on Snape's face told me that whatever he was expecting us to tell him, this certainly wasn't it. Then his eyes narrowed into small slits.

"Did he tell you who gave him this information?" his words were sharp and clipped.

I scoffed. "No. He said it was an _unreliable source_, but it's obviously not, right?"

"No, it's not. Have you told anyone besides," he gestured to Draco, "him?"

"Of course not," I couldn't help adding, "I'm not an idiot."

Snape clicked his tongue and contorted his face into one that was a cross between a smirk and a frown, contemplating what to do next. After a few tense moments of silence, he spoke.

"I will inform the Dark Lord about this. As it stands now, the plans for your ceremony will go on as usual. If they change I will inform you. Do not talk to anyone about this. Dismissed."

Draco and I stood to leave.

"Thank you for telling me," Snape added, perhaps as an afterthought, "if anything of this nature comes up again, I would appreciate the tip, considering my unique position to, _smooth over_ anything that might go 'bump'."

Nodding, I turned and left, Draco next to me. We set off down the stone hallway, heading to the Great Hall. We were just in time for breakfast and judging by the noises (I hoped only I could hear) that were coming from my stomach, I could use some toast, bacon, and kippers.

"Snape seemed to take that fairly well," I commented as we emerged from the dungeons, turning down another corridor.

"Yeah, well, he's normally cool on the outside, but did you see his eyes after you told him about it? He's livid. I bet he's flooing someone right now with the news."

"Right now?" I asked, looking at him, "couldn't he get caught?"

We turned a corner sharply, and ran into none other than Potter, Weasley, and Granger, with me literally colliding with the mudblood.

"My God Granger, are you really that intent on infecting everyone?" Draco sneered while helping me up. I took his hand gratefully, attempting to look as elegant as possible whilst retrieving myself from the ground.

"I would," she responded, "if I had anything to infect you with."

"It just goes to show you," I said curtly, brushing myself off, "that you can't detect your own pestilence."

I could see Weasley's hands knot into fists. Potter didn't look like he was very much into practicing self restraint, so with my nose slightly in the air I stated, "let's leave, it smells horrible here," and proceeded to push past them into the Great Hall.

Sliding into seats across from Millicent and Blaise, I proceeded to spoon large amounts of egg on to my plate before lightly salting them.

"Where've you been?" Millicent asked through a large mouthful of sausage, "you weren't in the dormitory when I got up."

"Having an unfortunate run-in with Granger," I grumbled. _Half true_, I thought to myself.

Millicent grunted, accepting my half-lie. I glanced up to the grand table at the front of the hall where the professors ate, noticing that Snape was absent.

In fact Snape didn't turn up to breakfast at all.

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Snape slapped his hand on the table. "I told you not to talk to her about it. How am I supposed to explain to Voldemort that you knew?"

"I'm sorry Severus," Dumbledore conceded, "but I couldn't watch another one of my students join his ranks without doing something to intervene. I admit," he continued when Snape opened his mouth to retort, "that it was not the smartest decision, and now we both have to live with the consequences. For this, I am very sorry, but you have to understand where I'm coming from."

"I understand fully where you're coming from," he spat back, "I just thought you would have exercised a little more self restraint. It was foolish of you to think that you could have swayed her opinion."

"I agree."

Dumbledore let out a long sigh. Fawkes hooted from his perch in the corner of the office and ruffled his wings, nudging the sorting hat by accident. Snape glared at the phoenix before turning his attention back to Dumbledore, waiting for the headmaster to speak.

"It didn't push the date for her joining back at all, did it?"

Snape pursed his lips. "No."

"I think," Dumbledore started, pushing his spectacles back up his nose, "we should discuss what we're going to do about how I figured this out."

Snape had the urge to throw something. He also felt slightly sick. How Dumbledore could put him in this position, he didn't know. There was one thing that was for sure, and that was that at this moment it seemed to Snape like Voldemort would see straight through whatever lie they came up with, and as a result he would be very dead, very soon.

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**AUTHORS NOTE: **Next chapter will finally have some romance in it, I promise! There will be a seriously (hopefully) hot make-out session, with some tender-ish-ness. Just keep in mind that it might take awhile. I've all of a sudden found myself to be super-busy. I hate having a life sometimes.

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**The End  
(of the chapter) **


	4. The Last Night

**Lemon Drop?  
**Chapter 4  
The Last Night  
~liquid time

Thank you **bananas in pyjamas **for beta-ing this chapter.

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I was stretched out on the plush velvet sofa in front of the fire in the Slytherin common room. Flames crackled eerily and the occasional ember escaped into the room, seeking skin to make contact with, or some fabric to char. I closed my eyes and ran my hands along the soft cloth, taking a deep breath and trying to relax.

I listened to the sounds around me. People laughed and talked. They held whispered conversations behind hands, trying somewhat unsuccessfully not to be overheard. There were blasts and giggles from students playing Exploding Snap and exasperated sighs from those attempting to finish difficult homework. I lay in silence with my eyes closed attempting yet again to calm my overly excited nerves.

"How are you holding up?"

A voice said from beside me. I didn't have to open my eyes or turn my head to know who it was that spoke. Nobody could make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up just by asking a question. Nobody except Draco.

He sat on the floor, near where my head rested on the arm of the sofa. I finally turned to look at him.

"Alright," I moved my hands to my stomach, "a little queasy but," I smiled, "that's to be expected I suppose."

"You'll do great," he told me, reiterating what he said when we sat by the lake.

"I know," it was barely a whisper but he still heard.

It was like we were frozen in time. My breath hitched as my eyes wandered over every inch of his complexion. He mouth started to turn up into a smile and before I could register the change in emotion, he leaned toward me, lips pressing firmly against mine.

I inhaled sharply, surprised, and practically fell off the sofa. He smirked and merely pulled me closer, arms winding around my waist, as mine wrapped around his neck, my fingers tangling in his hair. Our tongues met in pure pleasure, and he exhaled in to my mouth, the sweet taste of peppermint dancing around.

He trailed soft kisses down my jaw to the crook of my neck. I threw my head back, exposing my pale skin, sighing. His hands traced designs on my back, and I pressed myself in to his chest, eager for further contact.

"You know, there's a Hogsmeade trip tomorrow," he said between kisses.

I tried to gather my thoughts, "Mmmm," I responded in affirmation because words seemed too much effort at that point.

"I was thinking," he continued, mouth working down, "that we could go together as a little," he had reached the top of my robes, and was fiddling with the clasp, "celebration," he smirked. Without undoing the clasp he pulled the fabric lower, exposing just a tiny bit of cleavage. Holding my robe down, he placed a chaste kiss in the crevice before letting the robe reposition itself and allowing his fingers to trace over my collar bone.

I looked at him and captured his lips in another kiss. Somewhere in the swift battle of heat I managed to mutter "that would be lovely" before focusing entirely on this moment of pleasure. Raw emotions; angst, fear, and love worked their way in to our lust filled collision and I took comfort in Draco's cool confidence. In this moment he gave me everything I needed to survive the forthcoming night.

But it was over much too quickly. He stood up and I followed suit, taking another deep breath and smoothing out my robes. Draco smiled.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"Got everything? Wand… err," he paused for a moment, and looked me up and down, "not much else, is there?" he grinned.

I forced a smile back at him and said, "no, not really."

"Well then, best be off."

His arm stretched out, and I felt his calloused hand closing around mine. I laced my fingers with his, and he pulled me across the common room to the stone wall leading to the dungeons.

"Snape made sure that we wouldn't run into any teachers on our way out," he commented off-handedly.

I rolled my eyes. "I know Draco. I was there when he told us."

"Oh yes, of course you were," his cheeks turned a light pink as he lead the way out, "I suppose I'm just as nervous as you are then."

I chuckled. "I suppose so."

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Finally, right? No, this fic hasn't been deserted. Haha. I've dropped two classes and full IB for more time to do shit for the rest of my senior year, so hopefully I'll have more time to, you know, actually update my stories. That being said I'm still in the school spring play and doing rugby so... my schedule is still full.

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**THE END  
(of the chapter) **


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